


Directions Heretofore Untold

by Rikkamaru



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, M/M, Magical Realism, Sort Of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2019-07-18 01:29:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16107944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rikkamaru/pseuds/Rikkamaru
Summary: Shinichi is a creature of tragedy, Kaito one of fortune. Shinichi has always believed there was no happy ending for him. Kaito disagrees.





	Directions Heretofore Untold

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Procrastination_Sensation](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Procrastination_Sensation/gifts).



> Based on an idea/prompt from Procrastination_Sensation.

Shinichi was sitting on the railing to a bridge, looking out over the river, when he felt a tug on his senses. He frowned and turned to face the direction he was being pulled in; it had been a while since any tragedy had caught his attention this greatly.

Longer still since that tragedy had been preventable.

Nonetheless, he stood on the railing and slipped his mask over his face; if the tragedy could not be stopped, he wanted to make sure he was dressed appropriately. With that in place he reached out to the feeling and let it pull him along to wherever he was needed.

It was a stage of some sort, made for performances. Shinichi crossed his arms as he took the place in, feeling the excitement in the room nearly hide that horrible premonition that had reached out to him, which now hung above the room like a guillotine. He frowned and took a breath in, letting the cloying scent of herbs and wisteria wash over him and drown out the taste of ash that lingered on the back of his tongue.

As he looked around Shinichi drew closer to the items that were likely to be used in the show and began to check through them. He hummed – the man was a magician. The realization choked him for a moment before the lengths of rope and shorn wires caught his eye.

He knew more about magician equipment than most would anticipate. The deaths of famous magicians mid-trick had called to him multiple times before, but this time – this time he could see what was wrong. He could perhaps save this one.

As he went about adjusting items, returning them to a more standard setup and removing the broken items all together, he ignored the footsteps approaching him. If the magician was starting soon he needed to finish. And the man would not see him regardless.

“What do you think you’re doing?” He heard, agitated, and it takes Shinichi a few seconds to realize the question was directed at him. When he did he froze and turned so that he could see the person out of one of the lenses of his mask.

The young man he saw grimaced at it. “Well you’re creepy looking,” he said, looking him over, and Shinichi felt a trace of offense at the other’s words which warred with the disbelief that had stilled him earlier.

Another Aspect was here. For what purpose? Just looking at him told Shinichi he was no creature of misfortune; he wore all white and a wide brimmed hat that obscured his face from immediate view, where beings of misfortune like him preferred dark colors in general. Excluding that, all of the other beings of misfortune have come to recognize Shinichi by his mask at this point.

After all, he may very well be the last Aspect of Tragedy born from the Black Death that still lived.

Breathing out a sigh, Shinichi stood up and watched the other Aspect back away with a vague curiosity. It only took the Aspect another second before realization struck him and he leaned forward, interest and aggression bleeding into his features. “Wait, can you see me?”

“I can,” Shinichi confirmed, and entertained himself briefly with the surprise that flickered through the other’s expression.

“What’s another Aspect doing here?” he demanded, before his eyes widened and anger fell over his face. “Step aside,” he ordered, and Shinichi did so with little issue.

“I was called here,” he told the other Aspect as they shouldered past him, and he barely spared Shinichi a glance as he dropped down to look at the equipment.

“You interfered with the man’s equipment,” he accused, and Shinichi bristled a little.

“It was already interfered with, I simply did my best to correct it,” the Aspect of Tragedy snapped back, and the other Aspect shot them a doubtful glance even as he adjusted the equipment ever so slightly, more likely to fit the man’s measurements if Shinichi were to guess. “I assure you, I do not need to instigate misfortune.”

The other Aspect hummed doubtfully. “So you wouldn’t mind me staying near you during his show.” It wasn’t a question, but Shinichi shrugged one of his shoulders indifferently.

“Do as you please,” he said blandly, and the other did just that, following him and settling to his side close enough to restrain or attack him if he needed to, and Shinichi had to tamp down just how amusing he found the display. Rare was it these days for anyone to even consider attacking him.

As he waited for the show to begin and the perpetrator to possibly reveal themselves Shinichi considered the unmoving figure beside him. He was most likely some positive Aspect, and maybe not young but certainly younger than Shinichi.

Then again, most Aspects these days were younger than Shinichi.

Perhaps he was born during the Renaissance? It would certainly explain the flamboyancy of his outfit, and the familiar way he worked with the equipment. Shinichi would label him a being of good fortune until he could get a definite answer.

The other was as still as a statue beside him as the magic show began and a man appeared. He performed all manner of tricks and Shinichi watched in interest, doing his best to quiet the voice in his head that hissed in fear with every action and new item he saw.

As the show began to wind up for its finale Shinichi felt a cruel anticipation begin to fill the room and shifted to look for its source. A hand shot out and wrapped around his arm like a band of steel but he ignored the other Aspect’s actions in favor of looking over his shoulder and catalogue the people there. He thought he saw a man dressed in all black with a fedora and hummed, brought back to focus when the other tightened his grip on Shinichi’s arm in warning. He turn to the being of fortune and rolled his eyes when the other didn’t acknowledge him and focused on the strange man again.

The man tensed, the grip on his arm tightened, and Shinichi held his breath for a moment, the phantom taste of ash in his mouth overpowering.

And then the moment ended, the being’s grip slackening and the human’s face going from satisfied to bewildered to a dark anger that made Shinichi frown and shift, contemplating following the man before dismissing the thought. Certainly the other Aspect saw what had his attention and would do the stalking himself; it was no longer Shinichi’s job to interfere.

He turned back to the other Aspect to see him indeed looking over at the man, the distrust and aggression he’d shown Shinichi earlier now directed at the human even as he gently removed his hand from Shinichi’s arm. “Sorry about that,” he said, his eyes still on the man, before abruptly taking off to follow the man as he tried to make his escape.

Shinichi blinked, startled by his sudden departure, before closing his eyes and reaching out for another area where tragedy would strike. It took him a few hours after that to realize that the taste of ash was gone.

* * *

“So are you called to bad luck?” Shinichi heard, and he looked up from the river bank to see the Aspect from the magic show several weeks ago standing nearby, his eyes still obscured and his body language wary but open.

“Yes,” Shinichi said back, looking over at the bag he’d managed to have the river deposit on its bank with something like resignation in his heart. He was probably too late – he was almost _always_ too late, it seemed most days – but he couldn’t help but want to try anyway. He made a gesture and the string holding the bag shut, already frayed from the water and poor use, snapped. He gently opened it and felt his heart twist, torn between dropping at the sight of the dead kittens and lifting as he realized one was still alive, struggling to breathe. He took it out of the bag and hastily removed one of his gloves to help warm it.

The other Aspect watched as he carefully got to his feet, but Shinichi couldn’t be bothered to acknowledge him as he started making his way to a nearby veterinarian office. The sun was beginning to set, and he didn’t have time to lose.

He managed to make it to the office and left the kitten on the doorstep, knocking until someone came to answer only to see no one there beyond a kitten wheezing with some inhaled water.

Shinichi watched them take the cat in and sighed, the weight on his shoulders barely shifting. “I am an Aspect of Tragedy,” he finally elaborated to the other Aspect that had followed him the entire time, and he heard the other make a sound of realization.

“That’s why you’d come to Toichi’s performance; you knew a tragedy was about to take place,” he said, and Shinichi hummed a brief confirmation. He heard him shift but Shinichi didn’t ask the question he knew the other was anticipating. He didn’t really care about specifics; Shinichi had an idea of who he was, and didn’t need much else. Still, he could hear the other inhale, as if to calm himself. “I’m an Aspect of Joy.”

Ah. 

“That certainly explains your presence at his performance as well,” Shinichi said, and the Aspect of Joy let out a laugh that sounded more surprised than genuinely amused.

“I love going to his shows,” the Aspect said, and while his eyes were hidden from view Shinichi could easily see his smile, bright in the darkening area. “They never fail to brighten up the day of anyone who goes to see them.”

Shinichi couldn’t quite agree, but he was a special case, and so didn’t contradict the Aspect of Joy. “You favor him,” he said instead, and watched in fascination as the other Aspect tensed, his previous amiability diminished. “There’s nothing wrong with that,” he added, but the other didn’t look assured. “I favor someone right now as well.” He watched this fact strike home as the Aspect of Joy grew both worried and intrigued.

“How does that work?” he asked. “Does your favored attract tragedies and bad luck?”

He wobbled his hand. “Maybe? He seems to stumble upon tragedies more than average for a human. But he is called to help solve murders and comforts the dead by bringing their killers to justice.” Shinichi shrugged and adjusted his mask, realigning the ‘beak’. “It’s good to see humans do their best to bring peace to others.”

The Aspect of Joy stared at him for a while – thinking on his words Shinichi figured; his mask wasn’t exactly an enjoyable thing to look at by choice – before doing something Shinichi hadn’t been expecting in the slightest: he took off his hat, and with it the ability to hide his features vanished, and Shinichi found himself looking at the Aspect of Joy’s face in the dwindling light.

He looked a startling amount like him, Shinichi realized; certainly enough to confuse any other Aspect that ran into them should the third party see both of their faces. His eyes looked darker than Shinichi’s and his features stronger to the Aspect of Tragedy’s finer ones, but other than that their resemblance was almost unsettling. “I don’t get you,” the Aspect of Joy admitted, fiddling with his hat in a manner similar to how the magician he’d seen earlier did, and Shinichi brought himself out of his thoughts to listen. “You’re an _Aspect_ of Tragedy. Why are you trying to prevent it from happening? Aren’t you simply meant to herald its coming and bear witness?”

For a moment Shinichi was lost, a roar filling his ears as he thought of piles of corpses in the streets, of mass graves, of the sobs of the dying and their loved ones; even now, after all of these centuries, the circumstances of his birth still haunted him. “I have born witness to too many tragedies that I could not prevent,” he told the other, his voice choked with ash and grief. “And for all that it was what I was born to do, the horror of what I’ve seen still follows me, hidden in my shadow. If I can prevent more sadness or hurt from occurring then I will, no matter what my original purpose was.”

The Aspect of Joy looked surprised, perhaps by the emotions in Shinichi’s voice, but it soon faded to another smile that made Shinichi’s eyes hurt. He extended his hand and, before Shinichi could guess to what that meant, made a rose appear. “I go by Kaito these days,” the Aspect said, and Shinichi hesitantly took the flower.

“Shinichi,” he said back, careful to not have the ‘beak’ of his mask damage the rose as he examined it. The disquiet in his mind picked up as he took in the color.

“Nice to meet you, Shinichi,” the Aspect of Joy – Kaito – said. “I hope we’ll get to meet each other again.”

“You already found me once,” Shinichi reminded him pointlessly, his mind elsewhere. “I’m sure you’ll be able to do so again.”

Kaito beamed at him then vanished, likely being pulled to another moment of joy, and Shinichi was able to examine the rose alone and let his thoughts wander.

It was yellow. Not the worst color for Shinichi, but it did bring to mind diseases which took the liver, the yellowing of poorly treated bones, and corrosive clouds of mustard gas. He squeezed his eyes shut and tucked such images away, opening them again once he was sure they were locked away once more.

He went to a nearby hospital and left the rose in a vase in the children’s ward, where the young ones would hopefully take more comfort in it than he ever could.

* * *

“I know you gave away my rose,” Kaito told him when they met again, a week later.

Shinichi looked up from where he’d been examining the crime scene. “Oh?” His mask obscured his face, but Shinichi hoped he sounded properly curious so that the other Aspect would continue. He glanced back down at the body the police were investigating and grimaced before reaching out to ever-so-slightly shift a book to help bring attention to it.

“I was drawn to a hospital; apparently the kids received a ‘mystery rose’ that appeared in the night. They were all delighted.” Kaito’s previously neutral face became a content smile as he leaned against a wall and ignored the bustling of the people around them. “And I can recognize my own constructs.”

“I see,” Shinichi said, intrigued. He hadn’t realized the rose was something the Aspect of Joy had created directly. It certainly explained its unusual vitality. Before he could think more on it he felt the life energy of his favored arrive and perked up, turning away to watch him approach.

Yuusaku looked tired but overall put together – probably had an all-nighter writing, Shinichi thought with a trace of fond exasperation – and immediately began discussing the situation with the police officers there. Shinichi watched with vague curiosity as the man looked around and locked onto the book Shinichi had just shifted, and barely noticed the other Aspect sidling up beside him until he took a sharp breath in. “He looks just like my own favored,” Kaito murmured, and Shinichi hummed a little to himself.

“Interesting,” was all he could think to say, his thoughts whirling for a second before he calmed them. Strange as it may be, it was very possible that these two men simply looked alike and caught their attention; if that wasn’t the case, there was little Shinichi could – or would – do about it. Letting out a quiet sigh of relief, he watched Yuusaku begin to put everything together and shoved his hands into his coat pockets. “He can take it from here,” he murmured, mostly to himself, before startling as Kaito grabbed him by the arm and began pulling him away.

“Great! Then you can come with me,” he cheered, and Shinichi didn’t even have a chance to protest before Kaito jumped to a moment of joy calling to him and dragged Shinichi along for the ride.

It was a birthday party, and Shinichi closed his eyes for a moment to try and stop the spinning and stop the brightly colored streamers from burning their way into his retinas. “Was that really necessary?” he asked, putting his free hand over his mask lenses for good measure.

“Of course it was!” Kaito argued, tugging him along as he began to wander through the room. When Shinichi peeked back out the Aspect of Joy’s top hat was gone, replaced by a party hat, and he had a horrible feeling that a tiny hat was also on his own head. “When was the last time you experienced a moment of Joy?”

Shinichi paused at that, though he already knew the answer quite well. He was an Aspect of Tragedy; the only time he found people being happy was entirely by accident. “I gave those children your rose,” he argued, and Kaito looked unimpressed even as he pulled Shinichi past some game the children were playing.

“You didn’t even see them react to it, Shinichi. That doesn’t count,” he said, and Shinichi couldn’t argue against that. Then Kaito turned around fully to face him and gently lifted his hand to pinch the end of Shinichi’s mask’s ‘beak’. The scent of the herbs and wisteria grew thicker and Shinichi coughed a little to try and clear his airways. “Why are you wearing this, by the way? I’ve been wanting to ask.” Kaito wiggled the ‘beak’ until Shinichi swatted him away from it.

“Why do you still wear a suit and top hat to such places? It’s my work attire,” Shinichi said, irritated, and Kaito laughed and tapped the ‘beak’ again, dodging Shinichi’s follow-up swipe.

“Well sure, but my outfit is still matching with the times.” Shinichi ignored the point and crossed his arms as Kaito tore his attention between scanning the room and circling Shinichi. “You seem very set in your ways,” the Aspect of Joy noted, and Shinichi shrugged.

“No one else can see me like this, and if they can and they’re mortal they are rarely long for this world; it doesn’t really matter.” Shinichi reached up and removed the party hat that he did indeed find up there, and Kaito ignored the way he threw it to the side.

“Either way you’re not on the job right now, are you?” He settled on asking pointedly, and Shinichi blinked and turned to him. “Unless you’re trying to say something bad is about to happen here?” Kaito finished, and Shinichi extended his senses and heaved a hard sigh.

“No, the closest moment of tragedy is a ways away.” Shinichi hesitated, touching his mask and shooting an unseen nervous look at Kaito. He took the mask off when he was relaxing, certainly, but he hadn’t done so around another Aspect in…decades. Under Kaito’s expectant stare the Aspect of Tragedy took a breath, closed his eyes, and took off his mask.

He had to blink a few times to readjust to the lighting. He occasionally forgot how the lenses warped everything, and he only took off the mask at night more often than not. Having taken a moment to take stock of the room Shinichi glanced at Kaito.

The other Aspect was staring at him, eyes wide.

Shinichi stared back, taking in the other’s face unimpeded. He was very handsome, Shinichi couldn’t help but think. Without the lenses or distance Shinichi could more easily see how strong his features were and the dark blue of his eyes and suddenly Shinichi was regretting taking his mask off. He didn’t feel like much in comparison.

Nonetheless he cleared his throat and offered the other Aspect a small smile. Kaito’s cheeks grew red. “There, no mask,” Shinichi said, feeling ridiculous for stating the obvious, but it seemed to break Kaito from wherever his mind had been.

“You look really nice,” he blurted out, before his cheeks grew darker. “I just…wasn’t expecting how you’d look under the mask,” he said, as if to excuse his behavior.

Shinichi waved a hand dismissively, even as his own face began to burn. “It-it’s fine,” he stuttered a little. “Now, keep doing what you need to. I’ll just…” he trailed off and shrugged a little, “follow you.”

Kaito blinked at him before a blinding grin passed his face and Shinichi found himself being pulled around again, Kaito’s hand in his.

When they parted ways Kaito gave him another rose, Shinichi barely twitching at the red-tipped yellow rose even as his brain unwillingly conjured up images of flames and diseases and even the ichor of dying gods. He only gave the other Aspect a parting smile as they parted ways, and left the rose in the children’s ward again.

They continued like this for months, Kaito pulling him to moments of joy that he was called to and Shinichi happy to go along with it if it meant spending more time with the Aspect dumb enough to give him company.

One day it was _Shinichi_ who reached out and found Kaito on his own, and the delighted smile and pleased flush that cross the Aspect of Joy’s face made him feel like he’d accomplished some great thing even as the other dragged him to a festival and tried to cajole him into using his misfortune to win carnival games despite the owners being incapable of seeing them.

After every encounter, it had become tradition for Kaito to give him a rose that Shinichi did his best to smile through even as his brain relentlessly drew a comparison to the color and some tragedy he had witnessed before. When they were parting from the festival that night, Kaito gave him another, and Shinichi knew his face had finally given him away as he looked at the dark red flower and the voice at the back of his head picked up in volume and fear at the new color. When he looked up the Aspect of Joy looked embarrassed and crestfallen. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m probably being way too forward. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Shinichi felt a flash of surprise before understanding hit him. “You didn’t,” he tried to assure him, but Kaito clearly didn’t believe him. “Or rather, the attention doesn’t bother me. I…I like it,” he admitted, his fingers trembling slightly around the rose before he stilled them.

“Then what’s the problem?” Kaito asked, pushing his hurt aside to look at Shinichi with a tentative hope.

Again Shinichi fingers trembled, but he quickly tucked the rose behind his ear so that he could shove his hands into his pockets. Kaito was staring at the rose, a little dazed. “I’ve been around a long time, Kaito, the same as you. However, that means I’ve lived a life surrounded by tragedy; it only makes sense that colors remind me of less than pleasant experiences. I appreciate the roses, they’re quite lovely, but red doesn’t remind me of good things.”

Red was the color of romance, Shinichi knew. But for him it was the color of blood, and smallpox, and fire rising to engulf awomanafamilya _child_ screaming for help. Many tragic things ended in red.

Shinichi blinked those images away and turned from the Aspect of Joy, lifting his hand to rest against the rose. His fingers itched to put his mask back on, but he refrained. “I’m sorry that I upset you, Kaito,” he said. “But I was not born in happiness. I doubt I’ll end in it.” He departed before the other could respond.

He left the rose in the children’s ward again.

* * *

Shinichi frowned from where he was standing in a corner of a company party, the drone of talking both soothing and disconcerting to the Aspect.

Something big was going to happen here; he’d been all but yanked to this location. But he’d yet to figure out what the problem would be. Shinichi breathed in and held the scent of roses and herbs in his nose for a moment before breathing out and trying to refocus. He was distracted.

Shinichi hadn’t run into Kaito for several weeks, though he didn’t even know where to start looking for him. He couldn’t help but feel as if he were avoiding the Aspect of Joy, and while he wasn’t that didn’t stop the worry that was festering in him. He was afraid of the disappointment Kaito must surely feel that he’d become so interested in such a broken being.

Shinichi sighed and felt a stirring of annoyance at the way his mask overcorrected with his movement. Before he could think more about it he heard a quiet, sharp sound that put his teeth on edge, and Shinichi started looking around, his sour mood lifting a little.

That sounded like electricity. Was something about to short out? More than that, Shinichi thought. The call of tragedy was far greater than someone being electrocuted. It had felt like the death of multiple people. Shinichi spun around, his eyes sweeping the room, and barely reacted as the lights shorted out.

Screams of surprise and some fear filled the room, but Shinichi only grimaced as they drowned out the electricity. It sounded like it was getting worse and, as they all began making their way to the still-working elevators, it felt like lightning had struck _him_.

No time for subtlety, Shinichi thought grimly. He ran over there before any of them could do anything and _ripped_ the elevator call button out of the wall, the electricity sparking angrily and the rattling screech startling more screams from the mortals. Shinichi thought he heard babbling, heard people shouting to each other, but couldn’t focus on it as he turned all of the misfortune that makes up his being onto the elevators. With a groaning, squealing snap, he felt the cables give way beneath his power and go crashing back down, no one in there to get stuck or die.

As the buzz faded from his ears he turned to watch the last of the employees make their way down the emergency stairs, now incapable of calling the elevator at any level and – based on the dwindling sense of tragedy fading from the room – dying from a malfunction. Shinichi sighed in relief.

“You know, there are better ways to stop humans from getting in a faulty elevator other than just destroying the elevator,” a voice said behind him, and Shinichi jumped and started instinctively reaching for another call when Kaito said, “Shinichi, please don’t go,” and the Aspect of Tragedy froze before sighing and slumping a little.

“Okay,” he said quietly. He could heard Kaito coming closer, his dress shoes tapping against the floor, and his hands came up of their own accord to take off the mask. He stared at it in his grasp. “How did you find me?” He asked.

“You probably couldn’t hear it, but a bunch of those people proposed to each other in the heat of the moment and were accepted. Those gems of joy called me here.”

“Oh.” Shinichi’s grip on his mask tightened for a moment. “I’m sorry I ran,” he apologized, and Kaito snorted.

“Don’t be.” The Aspect of Joy gently bumped shoulders with him. “We were both kind of a mess last time. But can I say something?”

Shinichi rolled his eyes. “How would I stop you?” He asked, getting a laugh from the other Aspect.

“You mentioned you didn’t believe your life could end in happiness,” Kaito began, and Shinichi felt a moment of embarrassment at being so open with the other Aspect before he grabbed Shinichi’s hand and reclaimed his attention. “But you also spend your days fighting against the very thing that created you. Would you…would you be willing to try and having a happy life…with me?” Shinichi looked at the other Aspect in shock but he didn’t look up, clearly nervous.

Shinichi put his other hand around Kaito’s, startling him into looking up. Shinichi smiled. “I would be quite willing,” he told the other, and the force of Kaito’s relieved smile settled a piece of Shinichi he hadn’t realized was loose. When Kaito gave him a blue rose, it raised many comparisons: the darkening of bruises, the waters that looked calm until they dragged people into their depths, the loss of life by strangulation.

But in that moment, ready to make his own happy ending after a literal life surrounded by tragedy, all Shinichi could think of were Kaito’s eyes.


End file.
